


Stay on the path

by chancellorxofxtrash



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, F/M, Fairy Tale Elements, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fairy Tale Style, Magic, Multi, Red Riding Hood Elements, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23318356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancellorxofxtrash/pseuds/chancellorxofxtrash
Summary: “Do not stray from the path,” Her father said, in a stern voice. “The forest is dangerous. Do not trust anyone. There are beings there, who only want to make you stray, and swallow you whole. You must not stray from the path.”Everyone said that.Stay on the path.
Relationships: Crow Hogan/Izayoi Aki, Fudou Yuusei/Izayoi Aki, Jack Atlas/Fudo Yuusei/Crow Hogan/Izayoi Aki, Jack Atlas/Izayoi Aki
Comments: 8
Kudos: 31





	Stay on the path

When Aki was still a child, they realised she had a power.

Her power was simple - it was supposed to make plants do what she wished them to do.

But they did not listen. She would tell them to listen, and they would resist, fight back, for some reason - Aki had seen others use their gifts, their powers to their fullest, but…

Not one of them had been rejected like she was.

“There is a school,” A man said. “Deep within a forest. Every day, she must walk down the path there in the morning, and walk back in the evenings. She must do this alone, none of you can accompany her. She can learn how to make the plants listen to her then.”

So her parents dressed her up in all red - to scare off wild animals, they said.

“Do not stray from the path,” Her father said, in a stern voice. “The forest is dangerous. Do not trust anyone. There are beings there, who only want to make you stray, and swallow you whole. You must not stray from the path.”

Everyone said that.

Stay on the path.

On the first day, she said on the edge of the forest, it was almost like she heard the forest whisper.

_ Three months,  _ the trees whispered.

_ Three months, and we will see,  _ the flowers cackled.

_ Three months, and you will also see,  _ the grass promised.

So she walked down the path.

For the first few days nothing happened.

The forest was oddly quiet - apart from the insects chirping, and the occasional birds out there.

And she felt thousands of eyes on her back.

So she went to the school every day, and walked back, not straying from the path.

On the third day, about halfway through the forest, on a broken log, sat a man.

He was tall, with blond hair, and piercing eyes, and his clothes looked surprisingly light coloured and pristine - and he stood up with a scoff.

“So you are the latest initiate, huh?”

“What do you mean?”

“Walking through the forest daily,” The man gestured down the path. “You are an initiate. After a while they decide whether to keep you around or not.”

“And you are…?”

The man stood up, and there was a rifle on his back.

A Huntsman?

“I live in the forest. Making sure rascals don’t mess it up.”

Yeah. Huntsman.

Aki had met with the Huntsman every day after that.

He would always wear light coloured clothes, without a single stain on them, and a rifle on his back she never saw him fire.

His name was Jack, he said.

“People tell me this forest is dangerous. I didn’t realise people lived in it.”

“There is no dangerous place that doesn’t have anyone live in it,” Jack snorted. “That is just city-dwellers running their mouths about something they don’t know. Everything is lived in.”

“You didn’t deny it’s dangerous.”

“Of course I didn’t deny it,” Jack snapped. “This forest has a lot of beings in it. Some dangerous. Some aren’t. Someone has to keep them in line.”

“And would that be you?”

There was a smirk on Jack’s lips.

“You may as well call me the King of the forest.”

A black bird from a nearby tear let out a loud sound, and it was almost like  _ laughter -  _ and Jack just glared at that direction.

“You may laugh, but I did not lie! Get lost already!”

The bird spread its wings, and flew deeper into the forest, but Aki couldn’t shake the feeling that it was still laughing.

There are beings in the forest that can change their shapes, people said.

From humans to animals, and backwards, they said.

Careful of the shifters.

Careful.

They will lure you in like a beautiful flower would lure in its prey, like the anglerfish with the beautiful light deep in the ocean. They will lure you deep in the woods, and you will never return.

“Are there shapeshifters in this forest?”

“There are many beings in this forest.”

“Are you one of them?”

Jack sneered at her.

“Do you think I would need to shapeshift?”

“You might not need to, but you might do it anyway.”

“You are talking nonsense.”

Aki never met Jack while she could see the edge of the forest if she turned back.

And he would always depart from her side just before the school would appear from between the trees.

It’s like he did not want to be seen.

She never saw him fire his rifle either.

“Have you ever shot anything with that?”

“Why do you ask?”

“You are a Huntsman, and yet I had never seen you hunt.”

Jack’s eyes focused on her.

“It was you who called me a Huntsman. I never called myself that.”

“So what are you?”

“I told you. I am the King.”

It would have been easy.

She could have asked anyone at school, if they had met this weird Huntsman-but-not-Huntsman on the path. If they know who he is.

She did not.

She had to go even when it was raining - she hurried quickly, almost immediately soaked, her shoes gently sinking to the mud with every one of her steps.

Then suddenly rain did not reach her anymore.

She looked up, and there was Jack, holding an umbrella over both of their heads, scowling as ever.

“Really… don’t you city-dwellers know to have an umbrella in the rain?”

“...it didn’t look like raining when I left home.”

“Yes it did. It was obvious yesterday as well. The ravens didn’t shut up about it.”

“Well, they didn’t tell anything to me.”

“Be grateful about that,” Jack grumbled. “They are a nuisance to listen to.”

Aki held onto Jack’s arm, so they could keep close to each other under the umbrella, and Jack didn’t say a word about it.

When the time came, Jack gave her the umbrella, and stepped out from it.

“Wait---”

“You are gonna need this on the way back too. And also tomorrow,” Jack said, not looking back. “Take care of it.”

And then he was gone.

Nobody asked where she got the umbrella from. Her parents assumed one of her schoolmates gave her one, and she didn’t tell them otherwise.

The next day marked the last day of her first month of walking through the forest.

Jack showed up at the usual place, soaked, dipping under the umbrella, and taking it out of Aki’s hand - he was taller, after all.

He was complaining about the rain, the mud - even though Aki noticed that he still did not have any stains on his pristine outfit, even though he was soaked.

On the way back, the rain stopped, and Jack still showed up.

“Today is my last day here.”

“Oh?”

Jack nodded, looking into the distance.

“I’ll have to look after the other parts of the forest.”

“I see.”

“You won’t be alone, though. If you can handle the annoyance.”

“Annoyance?”

There was no reply, then they reached the point where they always departed - Jack stopped, and so did Aki.

“Here,” Aki said, reaching out the umbrella. “It’s yours.”

“Keep it,” Jack shook his head. “City-dweller like you… you just gonna forget again. There will be chance for you to give it back.”

“But--”

She couldn’t finish, because Jack leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to her lips - it was fast, like a breeze, and then it was over, and Jack disappeared in the woods.

And the forest whispered.

_ Two more months,  _ the trees hummed into her ear.  _ Two more months, and we will see. _

For the next few days she was alone again, and it felt like even more eyes were fixed on her.

The plants still did not listen to her, but it felt like they were resisting less.

Just a little bit.

“Yo. You are the city-dweller girl, huh?”

The man was sitting on a tree, a far cry from how Jack looked - wild hair sticking in every direction, face full of odd markings, casual clothes - and his eyes, his eyes…

“...what are you?”

“I’m Crow,” The man said, jumping down. “Jack surely mentioned me.”

“I can’t recall.”

“Awww,” Crow’s face fell. “C’mon now. He surely did. Maybe while complainin’ but he surely did.”

“He complained a lot about ravens. But not any crows. Let alone anyone named Crow.”

Crow’s face lit up.

“That me! He surely meant me.”

“Bu---”

It was sunny that day.

It was a bright day, the rain from a few days ago having completely passed.

And yet, shadows moved past them, like the sound of flapping wings, and there was a devious glint in Crow’s eyes - his eyes that had pupils just a bit too big, his grin just a bit too sharp.

“For you see… I am a raven.”

Aki ran.

Tried to ask the forest for help, to keep the shifter away, but it was as if the forest did not even hear her while she ran.

Crow did not chase her.

That day, in school, they learnt about the shifters.

How shifters have golden markings on their face.

“Runnin’ away from me was kinda rude, you know. I didn’t do anything bad to you.”

“You are a shifter.”

“Well, duh. That is no reason to run.”

“Are you gonna lure me away?”

Crow was sitting on the tree again, and he tilted his head curiously.

“Want me to?”

“No.”

“So nope. That is your answer. I’m just lookin’ after you because Jack said you are interesting. I bet you never ran from him, did you?”

“He isn’t a shifter.”

“And you know that ‘cause…?”

“He doesn’t have the markings like you do.”

Crow touched his face absentmindedly.

“Touché. Still gonna run from me?”

Aki hesitated.

Jack trusted this guy, right? He never told her not to trust him. He talked about ravens being annoying, but…

“...no. But do not try anything funny.”

Crow’s grin was just a bit too wide, just enough to be slightly unnerving, as he jumped down from the tree.

“No worries. Why would I bother luring you away anyway?”

From that point on, it was Crow who joined her on her path.

Crow was way more chattery than Jack was, and way more willing to chat with her about the forest.

He would talk with her about  _ young ones.  _ The trouble they got into, and it sounded all so weird but not-weird at the same time.

“Are they ravens like you?”

“Some,” Crow shrugged.

“The rest are other shifters?”

“Some.”

“...Jack didn’t have markings.”

“Nope.”

“But he wasn’t human either.”

Crow tilted his head, and there was a mischievous glint in his eyes, but he did not answer.

“...what is he then?”

“Jack is what he is. Just like I am what I am. And just like you are what you are. Why overcomplicate it?”

To Crow, it seemed to be that simple.

“So why are you called Crow, if you are a raven?”

“Are you called Aki because of your hair colour? Don’t be silly. Not every name is indicative of what you are.”

Sometimes Crow was in raven form, and could still talk like that - and it only took Aki a week or so to realise when a raven was Crow and when it wasn’t.

Crow-who-was-really-a-raven, but did that really matter?

Sometimes Crow landed on Aki’s shoulders, and he weighed less than she expected, it was barely noticeable, apart from the gently sharp hold of his talons, and his soft feathers touching her face.

The longer the second month went on, Aki felt more and more eyes on them, as she and Crow walked the path.

When she looked into the forest, she saw nothing.

“Nervous? You can check it out closer, if you want.”

Aki reeled back, looking at Crow, who was just leaning by one of the trees next to the path.

_ Don’t stray from the path, beware the shifters, they will lure you, they will take you… _

“Oh wow. Scared, I see you. No worries. They don’t like to come out to the path, you don’t like to come off. It’s easy. If no, then, no.”

Crow did not bring it up again, but the thought did not leave Aki’s head.

If he wanted to lure her away then when did he let it go that easily?

Or did he just want to put the thought into her head so she would go on her own?

“Why don’t they like the path?”

“Humans don’t like us,” Crow said simply, shrugging. “And humans are not usually nice to beings they don’t like. So better to keep out of their way, truly.”

Aki was silent, and she moved through the forest silently.

“And yet they would meet me?”

“You met me,” Crow chuckled. “You know what I am and the most you did it was to run away. So they are curious about you.”

Aki bit her mouth, and Crow smirked.

“Are  _ you  _ curious?”

“Is it dangerous?”

“The best things often are. So?”

“...let me think about it.”

“Sure,” Crow’s voice was cheerful. “I still have time here.”

It made sense, Aki thought.

Jack was around for a month. Now it was Crow.

The forest kept whispering about three months to Aki.

(She wondered what will the third companion will be like.)

Walking with Crow was nice and comfortable, and never quiet. He always had stories to tell, and ways to make Aki laugh, and whenever she did, he would grin wide.

His eyes were still odd, his grin is still a bit too wide, but somehow, it wasn’t that unsettling anymore.

“You will leave soon, right?”

“Yup. You guessed it. This is my last day with you. Sorry about that.”

“...and someone else will meet me, right?”

“Probably,” Crow said cheerfully. “Can’t make promises. Maybe there will be someone, maybe there won’t be. I guess that mostly depends on you.”

Aki was silent.

It was her way back from school that day.

“...are some of the young ones here?”

“Yup.”

“...can I meet them?”

Crow stopped, grinning, and extending a hand.

“I thought you would never ask.”

Aki stepped off the path holding Crow’s hand, and the forest was immediately darker, even though the sun hasn’t settled yet.

As soon as Aki stepped off, dozens of glowing eyes opened around them, and Aki shuddered - and Crow just squeezed her hand.

“Hey, knock it off you rascals! Don’t spook her. She came here to meet you, after all.”

One of the figures stepped out from behind one of the trees - a kid with bushy red hair, with glowing green eyes, looking up at Aki curiously.

And Aki smiled, as more and more figures appeared from the shadows.

When Aki stepped back on the path, she was still holding Crow’s hand, and it was darker outside - she never been away this long before.

They were surely getting worried.

Yet, she did not want to let go of Crow’s hand - and when they reached the point where they would have to depart, she almost expected Crow to kiss her.

And she just leaned into the kiss.

And Crow just grinned, with that too-wide grin of his, his eyes almost having an eerie glow to them.

“You know, I think you will be alright. I’m sure we will meet again.”

And with a flutter of black wings, Crow disappeared into the evening forest.

Her parents were worried. Obviously.

But that evening, when she reached out a hand to one of her houseplants, it leaned into her touch.

_ One last month,  _ the forest whispered.

_ This is your last month, and then we will see. _

_ Tell me, are you afraid of the big bad wolf? _

A wolf.

She heard about wolves a lot.

Everyone told her wolf shifters were the most dangerous of them all. The ones with sharp teeth and sharp claws, but sweet words to lure you in and eat you up alive.

But people said awful things about the other residents of the forest as well.

Or maybe Jack and Crow were just there to make her drop her guard?

And what should she do now?

It was silent, but it still felt like the eyes were on her while she walked on the path, alone.

One day, two days… nothing.

No one else.

No one to meet her on the path.

Just the eyes following her movements.

Didn’t the forest also promise the wolf visiting her? Didn’t Crow say the third person would come?

He went to the school’s library, but all the books were vague.

Shifters.

Brands on faces, inhuman features. Shifting between animal and human form freely.

Do not trust them, do not trust them.

And then, finally, in one of the hidden, old books… someone wrote descriptions.

_ The forest is full of many creatures a human better avoid. Many of them are shifters, marked by different face markings in human form. Here by a description of all the shifters we have information about. _

Aki skimmed the many different shifters, not paying attention to the ones she did not need.

_ The ravens are inquisitive, impulsive, often loud and brash. Like to play pranks and bother people. Their faces are especially marked. People who had talked to them talk about how protective they are of their kind, and the way there is always something unsettling about them. Often seen around paths. Be cautious. _

She knew that already.

_ The wolves are perhaps the most rare, and most dangerous ones of all. They look almost fully human when they appear, apart from their eyes that reflect the light. Sometimes can manifest sharp teeth and claws in human form, but that seems like it needs to be intentional. Do not go near them. Do not talk with them. They are ruthless beasts. Luckily they almost never come close to the path, but people who stray from it are always in danger from the wolves. _

_ Do not stray from the path. _

Do not stray from the path.

It seemed like everyone kept telling her that.

But if the wolf won’t come to her…

So on her way home, once they could not see her from the school, she stepped down from the path.

It was darker, and it got darker and darker the deeper she went.

Will she even find her way back?

She did not look back, and she felt the eyes on her still.

“Are you lost?”

A gentle voice called, and Aki stopped, looking for the source of it.

“I’m looking for someone.”

“People don’t really look for anyone in here. Who are you looking for?”

“A wolf.”

There was silence in the air.

“People usually avoid wolves.”

“The forest whispered to me about a wolf. So I wanted to meet one.”

Her heart was beating in her throat, and from the darkness of the forest, a figure walked out.

A tall, dark clothed man, with hair sticking around everywhere.

And markings on his face.

And a faint glow in his eyes.

“Well, you found one. What is your plan now?”

“...I was lonely on my walks,” Aki whispered. “Crow told me I would meet someone else.”

There was a small smile on the wolf’s face.

“Crow said that, huh? And you want to walk with me?”

“I want to find out about you,” Aki said, her legs trembling. “Everyone says you and the forest are dangerous. I want to know for myself. I want to see more of the forest then.”

“Even if I won’t walk the path with you?”

“As long as I get where I need to, that is fine.”

The wolf smiled, stepping forward.

“Very well. I will show you the forest then. I will walk with you.”

His name was Yusei.

He knew Jack and Crow, it was evident - he had the same fond smile on his face whenever they were mentioned.

He did not wait for Aki at the same spot the other two did - Aki had to walk down from the path, but Yusei seemed to have a knack for knowing where she would be, so he would join her, leading her through different sections of the forest every time.

Showing her the trees, the small clearings, a tiny pond. A small stream.

Every day, leading her through somewhere else, but she was never late from where she needed to be.

She wondered how it was possible.

She tried to draw a map once, but she failed - Yusei led her so swiftly and quickly, and the forest was so disorienting, it was impossible to keep track of.

So she just decided to trust the wolf, and follow her through the tracks that he knew.

Yusei wouldn’t talk much. Compared to Jack’s almost constant annoyance, and Crow’s unending chattering, Yusei was very silent, but always there to lend Aki a hand, helping her get around.

“Why are people so afraid of you?”

Yusei looked at her, deep in his thoughts.

“People don’t like what is different. What they don’t understand. This forest has its own rules. People don’t understand its rules, so they fear it.”

“Yet there is a school in the forest.”

Yusei actually smiled a little.

“Indeed, yet there is.”

Why would there be a school in the middle of the forest?

Why would they ask the initiates to walk the path alone if it was dangerous?

She asked that from Yusei too, and he shook his head.

“I do not know. That school is almost as old as the forest itself. I believe that school lives by the forest’s rules as well.”

“The forest had been talking to me.”

“It does that sometimes,” Yusei agreed. “What was it saying?”

“It was counting back the months. It said then we will see.”

Yusei was silent, so Aki pressed the matter.

“What will we see?”

“I think the forest saw potential in you.”

“Potential for what?”

“To be one of its protectors.”

“Like you are?”

“Something like that.”

Yusei was honest, but not straightforward, and Aki clenched her fists.

“That was it was all about right? Jack, Crow, you. You all came because of the forest.”

“The forest guided us to meet you, yes,” Yusei said, fixing his blue gaze on Aki, his eyes gently glowing. “But we made the choice to stay. Just like you made the choices to accept our company. The forest give offers to us. It is up to us whether we take them or not.”

Next day, Aki did not stray from the path.

Was it really her choice?

She didn’t stray the day after either.

Nor did she stray on the third day.

And nobody bothered her.

She felt the eyes still on her, but no huntsmen, no ravens showed up.

And definitely no wolves.

But the path was… boring.

Her lectures were boring.

All this time, and they did not teach her everything, but…

The further she went to the forest, the more did plants listen to her. The more they followed what Aki asked them to do.

So on the third day after her last talk with Yusei, while she was walking back home, she did not bother to wait until she was out of sight

She did not even step on the path, just threw herself into the forest.

She walked.

Aki walked, her red dress no doubt way too easy to see, and she raised her hand, letting her hair down, as she just walked.

All eyes of the forest on her.

_ Aren’t you afraid of the big bad wolf? Maybe he won’t be that nice now that you left him before. Aren’t you afraid of that? Most people are. _

“No, I am not,” Aki replied out loud, and she did not stop moving.

She had to find the wolf.

The moon was already up when she saw the wolf on a clearing.

The wolf was big - and had black fur, his eyes reflecting back the light of the full moon.

And Aki knew exactly who the wolf was.

She stepped forward, falling to her knees in front of him - and just extended her arms around him.

“I’m sorry,” Aki whispered. “I needed to think things through.”

The wolf did not reply, just stepped closer, allowing Aki to close him into her arms, burying her face into his fur.

It was the last day of the third month.

Yusei turned into his human form, and it was Aki who kissed him - hungrily, eagerly, not wanting to let him go.

In the end, Yusei was the one who gently pushed her away, and helped her to her feet.

“The others are waiting,” Yusei said with a soft smile, and Aki smiled and nodded.

She didn’t need to ask who the  _ others  _ were.

She knew.

She was never seen by humans again, but people would whisper about her.

The witch in the red dress, disappearing into the forest.

The witch in the red dress, sometimes with a white clothed huntsman, who never seems to hunt.

The witch in the red dress, sometimes with a raven with a penchant for talking way too much.

The witch in the red dress, sometimes with a big, black wolf, silent and strong, her hand resting on his fur.

And sometimes, the four beings all together - and they say that is the worst omen of them all.

Do not stray from the path.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
